Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
What the Writers Strike Means for Entertainment Today
What the Writers Strike Means for Entertainment Today
Feb 16, 2025 11:27 AM

Hollywood has been hit with its first strike in 15 years, and it may not end the way the last one did. That doesn’t mean the writers don’t have a legitimate cause—or that audiences don’t deserve better than the rebooted and woke pap that studios have been serving up of late.

Read More…

Although most people probably haven’t noticed yet, there is a currently a writers strike happening in Hollywood. For the time being, the main programs affected have been late night and daytime talk shows (apparently, there are actual writersfor The View). If the strike continues, more productions that more people care about will be affected. Many insiders are predicting that this strike has to potential to last months and cause ever larger disruptions in the entertainment industry.

Upon hearing this, most people still might shrug. With so many ing from all over the world, it’s difficult to imagine any significant change to scripted entertainment today. In many ways, the striking writers are simply experiencing what many other workers have experienced as a result of globalization and automation. Whereas film producers had no choice but to work with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) in the past, they can now outsource or automate much of the work done by union members—even screenwriting.

It also doesn’t help that many of the writers have e excessively political and lazy with their stories. In too many cases, bad writing was a major factor in bringing down formerly popular franchises (like Star Wars, Marvel, or DC), turning it into shameless left-wing propaganda and/or sloppy formulaic pablum that even fans can’t bring themselves to watch. In the effort to correct the old stereotypes of macho men, damsels in distress, and young people learning from their elders, they have pensated with new, far more annoying stereotypes like the man-child, girl bosses, and progressive youths schooling their elders. As for character and plot development, it is either predictable or nonexistent, as special effects and pushing a woke message take priority.

However, it’s important to realize that the diminishing quality of certain movies and television shows doesn’t reflect all productions, and much of it is not the fault of the writers. In fact, there are many well-written TV series and movies that e out in the past few years. Speaking for myself, I finally moved away from the old s that I used to uncritically consume and instead decided to watch new shows like Silicon Valley, The Expanse, Tulsa King, Waco, Queen’s Gambit, Kaleidoscope, and Under the Banner of Heaven. All these shows had great writing, and I didn’t feel like a loser for watching them as I did when I was watching reruns of The Simpsons, South Park, or Frasier.

Understanding this, it es possible to appreciate why the writers are striking and how a strike might be resolved in a way that results in better quality entertainment. It’s not simply the money—though that’s certainly a part of it—but the conditions for writing, which have e restrictive and encourage mindless content creation. True, some of this has to do with changing formats (these are the days of streaming) and petition (Korean and Indian cinema in particular e a long way), but more of it has to do with blockheaded producers who hope to exploit the current media landscape to cheap out on their writers.

This is why much of the debate centers on the use of mini-rooms and artificial intelligence. In the case of mini-rooms, producers hire a skeleton crew of writers and ask them to sketch out a season of shows or a movie in a few days. These writers are paid the minimum salary for those days and then are promptly let go after the first drafts are done. As for staying on the project, making alterations, working with the director and actors, and simply learning to be a petent writer—as was the case for writers in past decades—this doesn’t happen anymore. In conjunction with this, writers are often forced ply with “one-step deals,” an arrangement where producers are “paying a screenwriter for only their first draft of a script and then deciding afterward whether to retain them for future drafts.”

This process effectively distances the writers from their creations and discourages them from taking risks. Their goal is less writing an original story that is logically coherent and develops organically and more writing a generic outline of a story that suits whatever works for the producer. This can still result in a decent final product, but more often than not the quality of the writing suffers. Moreover, from the writers’ perspective, it makes it close to impossible to make fortable living. As one representative from the WGA put it: panies’ behavior has created a gig economy inside a union work force, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed mitment to further devaluing the profession of writing.”

Not surprisingly, under these circumstances, most producers e to see their role as investors looking to profit from a business venture than patrons funding the work of artists. Their overriding goals are reducing risk and maximizing efficiency. This means adapting well-known franchises, spending more on special effects and marketing, playing off the audience’s nostalgia, and sticking with formulas. Hence, audiences are treated to absolute dreck like She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Peter Pan and Wendy, and Velma. When writers are tasked with hammering something out in a short amount of time for shortsighted producers who have no imagination, such mediocrity es inevitable.

All this virtually guarantees the use of AI-generated screenplays. After all, if producing a movie is now effectively the same as producing a widget on an assembly line, the human element can be dispensed with. And if something weird or es out of it, some minimum-wage intern can do quality control. So long as someone famous is in it and there’s already a built-in fanbase, success is assured—until it isn’t.

Writers have every reason to oppose this, and audiences who care about quality should oppose it, too. Producers need to understand that good writing is fundamental to a project’s success and popularity. Although it may seem counterintuitive for the WGA to strike at the current moment, perhaps they are sensing the frustration among audiences along with a newfound willingness of producers e to the table and rethink their business strategy.

That said, it would be a mistake to try to go back to the way things were. Anyone who believes that this writers strike will end up like the last one 15 years ago—with the WGA mostly getting what it wanted—is doomed to disappointment. The days of large studios hiring a large team of writers to churn out 20+ episodes for a year-long season of a moderately popular TV show are over.

Television and movies have changed—and more importantly, so have audiences. What used to be known as “Peak TV”—quality dramas and thrillers that worked like epic-length movies (e.g., Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, The Wire)—has now e something of a baseline. Audiences have many choices, including the whole catalogue of movies and television from past decades. They won’t watch a show simply because it’s on during primetime and there’s nothing else on the other channels. It’s easy now to research a show, find the streaming service that provides it, and start watching. For younger generations, there are also popular YouTube critics who will tell them if something is worth watching or not.

Therefore, in order for this latest writers strike to be successful, both the producers and writers need to flex with the times and keep quality storytelling at the heart of their negotiations. For producers, that means treating their writers like professionals by paying them fairly, encouraging their artistic development, and keeping them around during filming.

For writers, they need to keep their standards high and avoid agendas promise those standards. While it’s admirable to be more inclusive with casting, especially when serving global audiences via streaming services, and to explore stories that shed light on the plights of marginalized groups, it’s boring and usually counterproductive to do this when it doesn’t fit the story they’re telling and obvious it’s merely virtue signaling of a sort. If people want propaganda, they can watch the news.

Assuming both sides e to the table and reach an agreement, it’s quite possible that American cinema can be revitalized. Filmmaking can return to being a true art form that intellectually and emotionally elevates audiences. Producers might be surprised just how hungry today’s audiences are for quality entertainment with good writing (see Top Gun: Maverick). And writers might be surprised at how much power they wield and what’s possible in today’s media landscape. The potential is all there. Let’s hope that this is the moment it’s finally realized.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Alejandro Chafuen in Forbes: The Moral Aspects of Money
Acton’s own Alejandro Chafuen appeared in Forbes to discuss monetary theories from the ancient Greeks to today’s crytocurrencies. The following is an excerpt from Chafuen’s essay, titled Moralists and Money: From Gold to Bitcoin. For the full article, readers may click here. Monetary topics are some of the first economic issues to be studied with some rigor. Since the first writings by the Greek philosophers, such as Plato, Aristotle, Hesiod and Xenophon, and until the 16th century, the moral questions,...
FAQ: What is the ‘U.S.-Mexico Trade Agreement’?
The United States and Mexico renegotiated the terms of their free trade agreement, President Donald Trump announced this week, replacing NAFTA with something he dubbed the “U.S.-Mexico Trade Agreement.” Here are the facts you need to know. Why did the U.S. negotiate a new trade agreement with Mexico? President Trump promised to renegotiate NAFTA during the 2016 presidential campaign, seeking more favorable terms for the U.S. auto industry and manufacturing sector. As of this writing, Canada has not agreed to...
Radio Free Acton: ‘Work in the age of robots’; Has classical music been forgotten?
On this episode of Radio Free Acton, John Couretas, Executive Producer of Radio Free Acton, interviews Mark Mills, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, on his new book “Work in the Age of Robots,” about what our jobs and the future of AI might look like. Then, on the Upstream segment, Bruce Edward Walker talks to Jay Nordlinger, Senior Editor of National Review, about Classical music: are people still listening to it nowadays and why is it important? Check out...
Searching for Walker Percy in St. Francisville
Walker Percy wrote novels that explored the “dislocation of man in the modern age” and that were “delivered with a poetic Southern sensibility and informed by the author’s deep Catholic faith.” To celebrate the novelist’s life and work, the people of St. Francisville, Louisiana host an annual Walker Percy Weekend. Caroline Roberts, a writer and producer of the Radio Free Acton podcast, attended this year’s event and wrote about the experience for the latest edition of Acton Longform, our new...
Review – Arthur Vandenberg: The Man in the Middle of the American Century
^This is a guest post for the Acton PowerBlog. By Gleaves Whitney Some years ago, the bestselling biographer David McCullough outlined the “missing history” of our nation’s capital – the histories that had yet to be written. Among the people he believed merited more in-depth study was Michigan Sen. Arthur Vandenberg. In Hendrik Meijer’s latest biography, Arthur Vandenberg: The Man in the Middle of the American Century, McCullough’s es true – and then some. No less mentator than Cokie Roberts,...
How we participate in God’s own work
“This is what I have observed to be good,” the Preacher says, “that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot” (Ecclesiastes 5:18[NIV]). “Toilsome labor” is work that is incessant, extremely hard, or exhausting. That doesn’t sound all that appealing, does it? So why does the Preacher say such labor isgood? Because, he...
Where criminal justice reform meets the redemptive power of work
According to a recent study by the Rand Corporation, “more than 2 million adults are incarcerated in U.S. prisons,” with roughly 700,000 leaving federal and state prisons each year. Of those released, “40 percent will be reincarcerated.” It’s a staggering statistic—one that ought to stir us toward greater reflection on how we might better support, empower, and equip prisoners in connecting with social and economic life. How might we reform our criminal justice system to better help and support these...
From Sunday Stalwarts to the Solidly Secular, the strange mix of American religious groups
In America, we have a problem with religious labels: they no longer fit. As a devout evangelical, I always cringe when I hear the label used—mostly for political purposes—to include a range of heretics, political grifters, and nominal Christians who haven’t been to church in decades. But I also tire of hearing the term “nones” used as a synonym for atheists. The reality is that most people in Western Europe consider themselves to be “Christians,” they are less religious than...
How Switzerland honors the Protestant work ethic and Catholic subsidiarity
In the U.S., Labor Day weekend celebrates the work ethic that made this nation the most prosperous in human history, and federalism is enshrined in our constitution. But Switzerland – so often overlooked by the West – may have much to teach us about how to honor and embrace the profound influence of the Protestant work ethic and Catholic subsidiarity. At Acton’s Religion & Liberty Transatlantic website, political scientist Mark R. Royce discusses how aspects of Switzerland’s little-discussed political system...
The Great Recession and the failure of financial intermediaries.
Note: This is post #92 in a weekly video series on basic economics. What caused the Great Recession of 2008? In this video by Marginal Revolution University, economist Tyler Cowen discusses a couple of key reasons, including homeowners’ leverage, securitization, and the role of excess confidence and incentives. He then considers what could have been done to prevent the worst financial crisis of our young century. (If you find the pace of the videos too slow, I’d mend watching them...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved